Capital punishment, like abortion and euthanasia, has been and remains one of the most highly controversial and widely debated issues. Regardless of their political and/or religious affiliation, nearly every individual has a strong position concerning the death penalty. Capital punishment is much like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, individuals must be protected from the barbaric, horrific, and monstrous acts of cold-blooded, heartless, and vicious killers. Likewise, government officials, judges, and other law enforcement officers must ensure that innocent people are neither imprisoned nor put to death for crimes that they did not commit. .
This paper analyzes and examines capital punishment from an anti-death penalty viewpoint. Concretely and in practice, compelling arguments against capital punishment ought to be made on the basis of its actual administration in our society. Part II discusses the history of the death penalty. In Part III, arguments in opposition to capital punishment are outlined.
Capital punishment has been imposed throughout history for numerous crimes, including blasphemy, murder, petty theft, and treason. Ancient societies that accepted the notion that particular crimes deserved capital punishment include the ancient Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. In addition, both Jesus and Socrates were executed. Likewise, Britain brought the death penalty and brought it to the United States.
Traditional historical methods of execution included: (1) beheading or decapitation; (2) breaking on the wheel; (3) burning; (4) crucifixion; (5) drawing and quartering; (6) garroting; (7) hanging; (8) peine forte et dure; (9) shooting; and (10) stoning. Such forms of capital punishment are now regarded today as barbaric, cruel and unusual, ghastly, and unthinkable. In the United States, the death penalty is now carried out in one of five ways: (1) electrocution; (2) firing squad (rarely used, yet the law remains on the books in certain states); (3) gas chamber; (4) hanging; and (5) lethal injection.
